Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower and Worth Monument

Worth Monument, Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower and Madison Square Park seen from Broadway at 25th Street. Photograph taken in the 1920s by William J. Roege (1893-1970). Source: New-York Historical Society.

Worth Monument, with its 51 foot-high obelisk, was dedicated in 1857. It serves as a memorial and burial site of General William Jenkins Worth (1794-1849).

The 48-story Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower was completed in 1909, on Madison Avenue, corner of East 24th Street. It was the world's tallest building until 1913, when it was surpassed by the Woolworth Building, on Broadway.

The Madison Avenue Building at 25 Madison Avenue, corner of 25th Street, is on the left. It was replaced by Metropolitan Life's North Building.